1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable or mobile radio device such as portable or cellular phones, portable information terminals, and so on. More particularly, the invention relates to a portable or mobile radio device having a pointer movably displayed on a screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, mobile communication devices or terminals such as cellular phones, which have a small display screen, have been used not only for telephone conversation but also for transmission and reception of e-mail messages and reading/viewing homepages or sites by accessing specific WWW (World Wide Web) servers on the Internet. On the display screen of the terminal of this type, action items or menu items are usually formed or displayed for the purpose of facilitating the choice of desired or required items, such as personal information (e.g., telephone directory), e-mail messages received or transmitted, and the character and/or graphic information obtained from the WWW servers on the Internet. If a user chooses one of the items displayed on the screen and instructs the terminal to execute a function or functions corresponding to the item thus chosen, the terminal will conduct the desired function or functions.
For example, when a user makes a telephone call with a mobile communication terminal of this type, the user operates the terminal in such a way that his/her telephone directory is displayed on the screen and then, a desired person and a corresponding telephone number are chosen from the listing of the directory using the pointer movably displayed on the screen. Thereafter, the user presses an execution button (i.e., a calling button). Thus, the user will be able to make a telephone call to the person the user has chosen this time.
Moreover, if the user moves the pointer to a desired one of the menu or action items on the screen and instructs the terminal to execute a function or functions corresponding to the item thus chosen, the user can open a window for creating an e-mail message and transmitting the same, or can brows other WWW servers or Internet sites as desired.
However, the above-described prior-art mobile communication terminals have the following problems.
Specifically, the display screen is small because the terminal itself is small-sized for mobility. The pointer is moved on the screen analogous to the operation of manipulation buttons. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to recognize the menu items displayed on the screen and to choose a desired one of the items with the sense of sight only. For example, it is not easy for the user to correctly choose a 2×2 dot area of the menu item on the screen with the pointer Moreover, if the user is poor in eyesight, the user is unable to manipulate the pointer as desired.